Partnership fund

2017 Aging and Retirement Grants

The 2017 Aging and Retirement Grants from the RBC/UW Applied Health Sciences Partnership Fund support and inspire research projects concerned with health and well-being in aging and retirement. 

Purpose

The grant will cover expenses related to conducting research on a variety of topics including, but not limited to:

  • factors affecting retirement planning (ie financial literacy, confidence, cultural, gender, healthy aging, vocation, age),
  • gender differences in retirement planning (ie cognitive, decision-making in retirement/estate planning, utilization of digital technologies), and
  • senior vulnerability and safety (health, financial).

Please see notes regarding potential topics below for further details. Support from this fund aims to encourage the development of cross-disciplinary collaboration among researchers and the training of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP).

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Funding

Funds of $100,000 are available to fund multiple grants up to a maximum of $15,000 each. Funding is available for one year beginning in January 2018. 

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Application details

Applications must include the following 3 documents:

  1. Office of Research cover sheet: please submit the cover sheet in hardcopy, with appropriate signatures, to the Office of Research.
  2. Application package: the application package consists of the following documents, combined into a single PDF file:
    1. Detailed description of proposal (4 pages maximum). 
    2. Budget and justification (1 page maximum).
    3. List of references (1 page maximum).
  3. CV: CV(s) of applicant(s), involved as PIs, saved as PDFs. The format of choice must include: funding history, publications, student supervision (if applicable), current position and start date. CVs should cover the past five years.

Include the applicant’s name and application title in the header of each page of the application package. All pages should be 8.5x11, with 12pt font, Times New Roman, 1” margins, and single-spaced. 

Submission

The Office of Research cover sheet is submitted to the Office of Research, as noted above. The application package and CVs should be submitted via e-mail to Rebecca Lintaman, Assistant to the Associate Deans.

Deadline

Applications must be submitted by December 7, 2017 at 4:00pm.

Eligibility

  • Must be tenured or tenure-track, full-time Waterloo faculty, or hold a definite term research professor appointment, where the primary affiliation is with University of Waterloo or any of its affiliated and federated institutions.
  • The proposal must include a plan for supporting the training of HQP, which may include one or more postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, or undergraduate students. 

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Applicant obligations

At the completion of the funding period, a two-page maximum report, including a summary of the activities and outputs, and a description of HQP training, is to be submitted to the Partnership Committee via Rebecca Lintaman, Assistant to the Associate Deans.
 
Any publications, presentations or public announcements from this research should acknowledge the funding support of the RBC/UW Applied Health Sciences Partnership Fund.
 

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Notes regarding potential topics

  1. Late retirement planners or those who have no retirement plan: What differences exist between late retirement planners/those who have no plan and those who have a plan/are engaged? What portion of the current 55+ plus population falls into this category? Are there similarities in other age demographics?  What will shift their inertia and engage in them in retirement planning?
  2. Gender differences in how men and women seek advice and utilize retirement products: What are the differences in how women seek advice on topics of importance (health, wealth, etc.)? How is this similar or different to how they approach retirement/estate planning? How do they understand and utilize risk protection/insurance products? How do they understand and utilize digital products versus face-to-face interaction to support their decision-making processes? Are there emerging differences in their values around philanthropic giving and/or volunteering?
  3. Business owner planning: How are small business owners thinking about the transition of their life and business for retirement or the next generation? How do they want to be engaged on this highly sensitive topic? By whom? When? Would they be interested in being part of a community of business owners who can share their own transition/succession/planning experiences? What does retirement planning look like for self-employed/contract individuals? What is their mindset and how do they plan without the security of a pension?
  4. Estate planning and transfer of wealth: With the increasing number of seniors and rise in longevity, what is the difference between those who leave a legacy after death and those who gift prior to? What factors may be motivating the early transfer (e.g., diminished capacity, desire to see a “living legacy”, or other reasons)? What differences exist based on accumulated wealth?
  5. Senior vulnerability and safety: How can we help protect against fraud and risk better?  How can we better identify Power of Attorneys (POAs) and access to family members? What is the role of technology to help POAs (health and financial)?
  6. Profiles: What are the different groups/clusters of individuals that exist in relation to retirement planning? What are their financial, attitudinal and behavioural profiles/attributes? How do their profiles change over time as they near retirement? Are there any differences in profiles for individuals versus households?

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Contact information

For more information about the 2017 Aging and Retirement Grants from the RBC/UW Applied Health Sciences Partnership Fund, please contact Rich Staines. To apply for the 2017 Aging and Retirement Grants, please contact Rebecca Lintaman.

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